The events organised by St Mary’s are so worthwhile, I’m just thinking about Rory Stein (Mandela’s bodyguard) and the comedian / magician we saw in the last 12 months.
So off we went with our friends to the evening with Timothy Cho – Escape from North Korea. This is his message:
Faith, Freedom and Forgiveness
When Timothy Cho stands before a congregation, his calm voice carries a story of pain, faith and redemption. Once a prisoner in North Korea, he is now a free man living in the United Kingdom — a country he calls “a beacon of freedom and compassion.”
A Childhood in Fear
Timothy was born in North Korea and lived there for 17 years. During the famine of the 1990s his parents fled the country in search of food, leaving nine-year-old Timothy behind. “From that moment, I was labelled a traitor’s child,” he recalls. “I couldn’t go to school or get a job. I was an enemy of the state.”
He was imprisoned four times — twice in North Korea, twice in China. “In my first prison, a man died while leaning against my back,” he remembers quietly. “The weak simply died.”
The Cult of Kim
Many assume North Korea is atheist, but Timothy calls it “a nation with its own religion.” Its god is the Kim family. “At every meal we thanked the Kims for our food. When the first Kim died, I asked my father, ‘Are we going to die too?’”
He describes a pyramid system — Kim at the top, followed by the party and the state — ruled by ten ideological principles. “It’s like a twisted version of the Ten Commandments. They control your thoughts, your speech, even your silence.”
Finding God in Prison
Timothy’s fourth imprisonment came after being caught in China. “I cried every night,” he says. Then he met a South Korean cellmate who read the Bible and told him to pray. “I didn’t know how, so I said, ‘God, I don’t want to be killed. Amen.’ That was my first prayer.”
Soon he prayed again: ‘If your reality exists, be my freedom, and I’ll devote my life to you.’ Miraculously, his execution was cancelled due to international pressure. “Now I know it was God’s hand,” he says.
Faith, Forgiveness and Freedom
“Suffering doesn’t destroy faith — it strengthens it,” Timothy reflects. “Even in the darkest places, light shines through.” Remembering his captors, he recalls Jesus’ words: ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’
When Timothy finally found asylum in the UK, he felt reborn. “It’s a country that welcomes people like me — asylum seekers who’ve known only oppression. Here I was given freedom, safety and a voice.”
All in all a very moving message and worthwhile evening!